Wimbledon is not my favorite ...

Although most Players will claim, winning Wimbledon was their dream starting from childhood. Wimby, has the distinction of being the Grand-Daddy of the Slams and arguably the most prestigious of them all.

But for me, I rate the French & USO as my favorites with Wimby coming in 3rd and sadly the Aussy Open, last.

Of the 4 Slams, I've only had the pleasure of being present at the USO of several occasions. The last occasion was in a Suite with Nick Bollettieri & Others, watching Agassi vs Baghdatis. Needless to say, it was a very special evening topped off with an Agassi victory befitting the electricity of the occasion.

If you've never had the pleasure of going to the USO, try very hard to make your first visit a Night Match with Star Players. You will have an experience to last a lifetime. The night matches are what makes the USO the best in the World. Also, if you do go and you happen to see tons of seats down front empty, while you are perched up near the clouds, please pick yourself up and go on down. Especially if the match is already in its' 2nd Set. If you grease the Usher with a 5 or 10 spot, they will escort you.. this is New Year don't forget, where people are not above taking advantage of an opportunity as long as you don't appear dangerous.

Wimbledon is the top one. I've been several times and this is the top flight tournament. We still do things the old way and I hope we continue to. Unless you actually go there you don't get to see everything that is going on. the grounds are fantastic even Henman hill has a beautiful waterfall going down the whole side of the hill. A huge screen for center court entertainment.
The atmosphere is electric even on day 1 the seats are all filled. No half empty stadiums here :-) If I can work out how to put photos into the album section I will put my photo's in there. I can't wait to go again next year!!

Guys - I can not argue the Wimbledon is a very special place indeed. I mean even if the Age old traditional ways are relaxing a bit here and there, Wimbledon still probably takes your breath away when you walk on Centre Court. And it's hard to judge something when you haven't had the opportunity to actually see it, touch it, smell it, etc.

However having said that ... if you happen to be sitting in Box Seat with Federer playing Nadal or Djokovic or even Andy Roddick on a warm Summer night at Arthur Ashe Stadium and you're going into the 5th Set, during the Change Over, just stand up and take a look around for a moment. It's almost scary how electrifying the Crowd gets in New York. If you think the French Open is loud, you've never been to a night match at the US Open.

Granted, the US Open can not compete with Wimbledon in terms of decor. Nope we have none of that around here .. there's no Royal Box although VIP's come by the handfuls all waiting for their Camera Shot which they are advised of before hand.

And during those change overs when the rest of the World is watching a commercial, you'll see tens of thousands of people standing up dancing to Rock Music while the Camera moves around catching whomever is interesting to show on the large Monitors. Even the Players enjoy watching the Monitors during the change overs ... it's unreal what people do to get their 15mins of fame. or 15 secs as it were.

I'm not suggesting the USO is better than Wimbledon but in terms of the sheer excitement of it all, I'd find it hard to believe Wimbledon would allow the loudness of drunken Patrons like the US Open does during Night Matches. But I sure hope I get an opportunity to find out for myself.

Wellbeing the goal

I am going to take a different angle. We have a lot of injuries on court and IMO it is due to hard courts. Clay courts provide the opportunity to see great groundstrokes which is what most players due on hardcourts.
GRASS is great to watch for the serve and volley. I know there are irregular bounces on grass that can cause muscle pulls but both grass and clay are far easier on players and, would extend their playing life.
In Australia we have a lot of synthetic grass courts which provide a pretty comfortable surface so for the longevity of players the surface plays a big part

Great point and I agree with your sentiments 100% which is why I've placed the French Open at #2 on my favorites list. As a life long Baseline Player, it's all about the ground strokes, setting up the point and eliminating the cheap service points.

These are the reasons I consider Andre Agassi as one of the best ever. For Mr. Agassi to prove he can win on Clay & Grass when conventional thinking would suggest his game was mostly suited for Hard Courts suggested to me that he was a Master in capitalizing on his abilities and recognizing his Opponents weaknesses quicker than they could against him.

Yes, as our friend Haretrigger states, it's one thing to get the ball back over the Net during a friendly local park match amongst 3.5 to 5.0 level combatants but having to rally at full intensity for 2 to 3 minutes just to win one point, requires a level of talent one should not under-estimate.

There are few Tournaments that will separate the Men from the Boys as a good Dirt Battle that strips away the Buck Forty - Down the Tee serve and the 40-love games which awards the physically fit, mentally strategic ground stroker as the French Open does.

Oh yes Hare, my tennis juices flow crazy when the Clay Season begins and it's hard not to feel the excitement of a Davis Cup atmosphere associated with that event. And as an older guy, I can appreciate how Clay gives me an equal playing field against the younger player.

The only acceptable loss is when your opponent was better than you on that given day.
It is never acceptable to lose when your opponent was not.

Well................

Coach,

You know from past discussions that we agree on most points but, in this case I think you owe it to yourself to get to Wimbly and experience it yourself. I am a born and raised New Yorker and there is nothing I like more than the NYC USO energy, and I have sat in seats from boxes at center court to the Bob Uecker noise bleed seats and enjoyed every minute.

Each GS has it's own special identity and unique atmosphere that make them GS' however, Wimbly has an atmosphere that is so unique and overwhelming, it must be experienced. It's an atmosphere and tradition like no other that makes Wimbledon so special to Pro players and fans alike (think Forest Hills times 100). Go there, touch it, breathe it, experience it and then tell us how you feel, I think you will be very surprised.

BTW, you can still like the USO and FO more, as you know, just thought I would lend you another perspective

One has to come to The Wimbledon Championships to actually believe the spectacle ! and while I am on here today, altough I am a Brit and would love to have our own Champion after so many many years (Fred Perry), I am sorry I did not think that Andy Murray was the better player last night and was not a worthy winner ! Stanislas Wawrinka was in my opinion far the better player !